Rock Stars in Theatres

Tex Perkins in The Man in Black: The Johnny Cash Story

 By Elissa Blake

This month, two of Australia’s most charismatic and oftentimes wild rockers will be turning their talents to the genteel art of acting.

Tim Rogers, best known as the lead singer of power pop band You Am I, will be on stage in The Story of Mary MacLane By Herself, a new Australian play at Griffin Theatre, and Tex Perkins (former frontman of rock brutes Beasts of Bourbon) will be reviving his Helpmann Award-winning show The Man in Black: The Johnny Cash Story at the Sydney Opera House.

Both have electrified thousands of fans in beer barns, rock venues and festivals across Australia and overseas. They’ve also had small roles in film, mostly playing the rock star or small supporting roles. But can they really act?

“Every acting job I’ve done so far has been an exaggerated version of myself, someone slightly more evil,” says Tim Rogers, 42, who made his professional acting debut in 2009 at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, as “The Entertainer” in Michael Kantor’s production of Woyzeck. But this is the first time he’s playing someone other than himself. “It’s been hard work for me being so still and quiet on stage night after night.”

In Mary MacLane, Rogers plays “The Man”, a servile alter-ego to Mary, the American memoirist who shocked the general public in the very early years of the twentieth century with her unflinching writing about sexual encounters with men (and desire for women), her narcissism, and her ambition to marry the Devil.

The play was performed at Malthouse at the end of last year. Rogers, who also composed the music, received very favourable notices, including one from The Age describing him as “a real talent”.

“At first the character was very nefarious but it changed over time and now he’s become an affectionate facilitator,” Rogers says. “I really hated that change at first but after I took myself off and drank a crate of wine, I came back realising I was basing my argument on ego and the play really did work better if I played the character as I was told to. It’s been a lesson in working in a team and working with a text.”

Rogers says he finds the discipline required in theatre and film exciting. He is working on three more films, including one directed by Kantor, and he is composing the score to Federico García Lorca’s play Blood Wedding, opening at the Malthouse in July.

Tim Rogers (left) with Bojana Novakovic and cast in The Story Of Mary MacLane by Herself (photo by Jeff Busby)

“Music is all chaos and noise and that’s my first love. But this work is intellectually stimulating. I have to hit marks and be part of a team. I think my intellect is really growing at this late stage. I love the rehearsals and the physical training,” he says. “I don’t want to waste anyone’s time because I’m not a trained actor. But I don’t want to be this ‘Tim Rogers guy’ for the rest of my life either. I’m so grateful to these writers and directors, I just don’t want to fuck it up.”

Perkins, 47, says he steered clear of all the “token rock god” roles that were offered to him in films. Instead he chose to play a dog in John Curran’s Sundance nominated film Down Rusty Down, alongside Noah Taylor and Bob Ellis (also playing dogs), and a rowdy Spanish neighbour in Curran’s Praise, alongside another rocker-turned-actor, Peter Fenton (of the Sydney band Crow).

“All my scenes in Praise were in a bathrobe. I’ve never worn a bathrobe in my life so that was true acting,” Perkins says.

In The Man In Black, Perkins narrates the life of Johnny Cash, occasionally dropping into character of the man himself. “I don’t have any acting chops or any kind of method. But when I take on his voice, his mannerisms and his body language just come with it, without too much thought,” he says.

The best thing about theatre, for Perkins, is the audience. “They sit down, shut up and listen. I love theatre audiences. You can hear a pin drop sometimes and it’s amazing how much better my performance is when I know people are really listening,” he says. “But I can’t imagine doing 900 shows like the guys in Jersey Boys.”

Rogers says he imagines taking more acting work if it comes up. “Maybe Tex and I will be meeting up in at the Algonquin to wait for the reviews and live the luvvie life.”

The Story of Mary MacLane By Herself plays at SBW Stables, Kings Cross, from April 11-May 12. The Man In Black plays at the Sydney Opera House from April 10-22. 


This story was first published in The Sydney Morning Herald on April 7.